DHL Top Fuel Team and Shawn Langdon Make Advances in Phoenix

Chandler, AZ – Shawn Langdon and the DHL Top Fuel dragster team were looking at the NHRA Arizona Nationals as chance to continue to get acclimated to Top Fuel competition. After a two year stint in Funny Car Langdon was quickly coming up to speed on getting back into the groove of racing the quickest race cars on the planet.

After three rounds of qualifying Langdon rolled into race day as the No. 7 Top Fuel dragster on the strength of a 3.733 second pass. In the first round he was matched up with veteran driver Clay Millican and he knew he would need to be at the top of his game. Langdon left first and never trailed. His winning time of 3.717 seconds was his quickest time of the weekend.

“I was pretty pumped after that run,” said Langdon. “It is great to start the day with our best run of the weekend. You can’t take anyone out here for granted. That was my first round win back in Top Fuel and it felt pretty good.”

In the quarterfinals Langdon faced the two-time world champion Steve Torrence who was racing for the first time in 2020 but was the No. 2 qualifier. Once again Langdon took the lead off the starting line and was beginning to pull away when his DHL Top Fuel dragster overpowered the race track. Langdon immediately lifted off the throttle and he saw that his opponent was also battling to control his 11,000 horsepower dragster. Langdon got back on the throttle in an effort to chase down Torrence and was making progress but the 2013 Top Fuel champion ran out of race track.

Torrence got the win with a pedestrian 4.570 second pass as Langdon tripped the finish line timing beam in 5.17 seconds.

“That second round race was wild,” said Langdon. “We were going to get after it but smoked the tires. I got off the throttle and saw Steve having some issues. That is when it gets exciting. I got back on the throttle but I just couldn’t catch up to him. Runs like that bring back a lot of muscle memory so that is a big positive. We would have liked to have had a longer day but we will get after them at the Gatornationals.”

Quotable:
Langdon on heading to Gatornationals: “The next race is one of the biggest races of the year. Everyone talks about the Gatornationals. We have made some good runs there but I would love to get one of those historic wins.”

Statistics:
Qualified: No. 7 (3.733 sec., 325.45 mph)
Bonus points: 0

Race Details:
First Round
Driver                          Qual    R/T      ET        MPH
Shawn Langdon         7          .069     3.717   321.65 (W)
Clay Millican               10        .082     3.750   321.42

Second Round
Driver                          Qual    R/T      ET        MPH
Shawn Langdon         7          .066     5.170   216.72
Steve Torrence            2          .143     4.570   203.31 (W)